Physics Division Seminars

Physics Division Seminars bring us speakers on a variety of physics
related subjects. Usually these are held in the Building 6008
large Conference Room, at 3:00 pm on the chosen day, but times
and locations may vary. For more information, contact our seminar
chairman,

Tue., November 16, 2004, at 11:00 a.m. (refreshments at 10:40 a.m.)

Superfluid Fermions from Atomic Gases to Neutron Stars

Joe Carlson, Los Alamos National Laboratory6008 Conference Room

Strongly-correlated fermions are ubiquitous in quantum many-body systems, from atomic gases to nuclei and neutron star matter. Pairing and superfluidity, in particular, are crucial to describe their structure and dynamics. Recent and upcoming experiments are vital in testing these theories and developing new understanding.
Dilute strongly-interacting Fermi gases are now experimentally accessible at extremely low temperature. These trapped atoms allow direct studies of fundamental properties of quantum many-body systems, including transitions from weak to very strong pairing, studies of exotic pairing mechanisms and beyond. In addition, neutron-rich nuclei and nuclear matter are important in experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, both for the intriguing many-body physics and because of their astrophysical implications. We review recent calculations in atomic gases, nuclei, and nuclear matter, compare with experimental results, and highlight future directions of research.